NVIDIA To Acquire VIA?

While it's just a rumor at this point, it seems that NVIDIA is planning on breaking into the CPU business. This isn't exactly surprising as the not-to-distant future looks like a place where CPUs have a dedicated GPU onboard and the future of add-in cards is unclear.

“NVIDIA and VIA discussed three possible scenarios, including a strategic alliance, acquisition of only VIA's processor division, or the acquisition of the entire company, according to the sources. Though no deal was agreed upon, since VIA continues to see losses, the company is expected to open up negotiations again soon with a lower price, noted the sources.”

A merge might actually be a win-win-win situation for both companies. VIA already has some very interesting CPU designs and NVIDIA has the connections to put their products in front of the right OEMs, which means that they might ultimately end up in front of consumers.

There is no word yet on whether NVIDIA/VIA would try to license platforms from AMD and/or Intel, or simply try to develop their own.